Sen. Trotter gun case goes forward

Ill. State Sen. Donne Trotter listens as his lawyer, Thomas Durkin, speaks with reporters outside the Cook County Criminal Court, in Chicago, after a hearing on charges of bringing a handgun into O'Hare International Airport. (Posted" Jan 17, 2013)

Ill. State Sen. Donne Trotter listens as his lawyer, Thomas Durkin, speaks with reporters outside the Cook County Criminal Court, in Chicago, after a hearing on charges of bringing a handgun into O'Hare International Airport. (Posted" Jan 17, 2013)

A Cook County judge today found probable cause for prosecutors to proceed against State Sen. Donne Trotter on a felony charge that he tried to board a flight with a handgun in his carry-on luggage.

Trotter, clad in a brown sweater with his trademark bow tie, stood silently as Judge Ann O'Donnell handed down the ruling after a brief preliminary hearing at a branch courthouse on the Northwest Side.

During the hearing, the Chicago police officer who made last month's arrest at O'Hare International Airport testified that Trotter claimed he didn't know the .25-caliber Beretta was in his bag when he was checking it through a security checkpoint.

Trotter’s lawyer, Thomas Anthony Durkin, told reporters after the hearing that his client shouldn't be penalized for doing something "unknowingly."

"I thought the evidence was very favorable to us," Durkin said. "This is just the next step in the case. We're not horribly concerned. ... I'm very confident going forward."

Trotter, 62, was charged with trying to board a jet on Dec. 5 at O'Hare International Airport after Transportation Security Administration officials at a security checkpoint spotted the handgun in a zipped-up side pocket of his carry-on garment bag.

He told police he got off work as a security guard and forgot that his gun and a magazine containing six live rounds was in the bag.

Trotter's next court date was scheduled for March 12 at the George Leighton Criminal Court Building.